1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to weight control; and, more specifically, to a compact, lightweight, portable device that tracks the current weight of a person against their desired weight, and displays the amount of weight lost, providing motivation for progress with continued weight loss.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices for weighing persons and devices for recording weights are known in the prior art. These devices are cumbersome and heavy and are generally not portable. They contain additional computer based features such as diet or exercise recommendations, and do not provide a clear indication of weight loss at any desired time.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,124,100 to Baker et al. discloses an indicator for recording weight of a truck, car or vehicle together with the date on which the vehicle was weighed. No means are provided for keeping track of the current weight of a person, together with the goal weight of a person, and determining the weight gained or lost.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,235,826 to McKean discloses a changeable exhibitor. This indicator is operative to record the weight of a car or vehicle, together with the state where it was weighed and the date on which it was weighed. This device does not keep track of the current weight of a person. No means are disclosed for tracking the goal weight of a person or for determining the weight gained or lost.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,380,227 to McGlothlen discloses an indicator. The unloaded tare weight of freight cars or auto trucks is indicated. Knowledge of tare weight prevents overloading of the vehicle beyond its safe values. The weigh master seals the measured tare weight and cannot be altered without the use of a security card. This indicator does not record the current weight of a person. It does not record the person's goal weight and or compute and display the pounds lost or gained.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,681,740 to Meyers discloses a device for computing underwear sizes. This two-sided device has one side for selecting the chest, waist and trunk sizes of a person, while the opposite side displays the size of the undergarment. No disclosure or suggestion is contained within the '740 patent concerning a method and means for tracking the current weight, goal weight and pounds lost of a person.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,252,487 to Bevill discloses a time recorder and key holder. Three thumb wheels in the key holder are turned to set the time at which the automobile is parked in front of a parking meter. No disclosure or suggestion is contained by the '487 patent concerning a method or means of keeping track of person's current weight, goal weight and pounds lost.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,748,514 to Sulger discloses an indicator. This indicator is adapted to keep track of total calories consumed. The indicator has two wheels placed above each. One wheel has a window while the other wheel has numbers in increments of 100 printed. The user advances the printed wheel by one notch to indicate through the window total calories so far consumed. The presence of the notch prevents free rotation of the printed wheel, and the number of calories consumed is maintained until the user turns the printed wheel again. This indicator merely keeps track of calories consumed as increments of 100 calories. No disclosure is contained by the '514 patent concerning a method and means for keeping track of a person's current weight, goal weight and pounds lost.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,433,407 to Carter discloses a weight control aid. The user selects calories consumed during each meal by rotating two control wheels which, in turn, move two films. The total calories consumed in each day are recorded by the user on a line in a sheet. The device is illuminated by a flashlight. No disclosure is contained within the '407 patent for keeping track of the current weight, goal weight and pounds lost of a user.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,493,172 to Bromage discloses a counting device. This counting device is provided with a casing and is a finger operated plunger device. First and second rotatably mounted display wheels have graduated scales. The two wheels are connected through a ratcheting mechanism. The device has three wheels, which are ratcheted. When the plunger is pressed, the first wheel advances by one tooth incrementing the number displayed in a window of the casing that views the first wheel. Thus, the first window displays the number of times the plunger is pressed. The other two wheels are also ratcheted and the wheels move a manner that decrements the display from a preset value corresponding to plunger activation. No disclosure is contained within the '172 patent concerning a method and means for keeping track of current weight, goal weight or indicating the pounds lost by the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,585 to Weaver discloses a weight reduction calculator. This calculator takes into account male or female, age, weight and height. It calculates basic total calorie need with no activity and provides total caloric need for various levels of activity that would result in no weight loss. The physician recommended caloric intake is subtracted from this total caloric need and represented as a calorie deficit. At this caloric restriction level, the calculator shows the number of days needed for a diet appointed to achieve a specified weight loss. This is merely a calculator, which incorporates data commonly available in tables. A weight loss of 1 pound typically needs a total deficit of 4086 calories. It does not provide a recommendation of a reduced calorie diet, but looks for recommendations from a physician. No disclosure is contained within the '585 patent concerning a method and means for keeping track of current weight, goal weight or pounds lost by a user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,580 to Sabel discloses a weight-loss motivation kit. This device is for motivating dieters to maintain a program for weight loss. A planar board has foldable support portions and printed indicia with a plurality of spaces designating progressively the number of pounds that a dieter wishes to lose during a weight loss program. When a dieter commences a weight-reduction program, a number of cartons equaling the number of pounds to be lost are stacked against the indicia of the board to coincide with the designated spaces. For each pound that the dieter loses, he or she is entitled to remove one carton, unfold it and place it in a flat carton holder in the rear of the board. This is a motivational weight reduction kit wherein the user folds away one of the cardboard blocks indicating that the user has lost a pound of weight. When all the cardboard blocks are folded, indicating the user has lost the planned weight, the board displays that the user has reached the weight goal. This is merely a display device indicating the progression of weight loss. The motivational kit does not keep track of the current weight of the user or indicate the goal weight of the user. It also does not indicate pounds lost at any time by the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,244 to Zeigner et al. discloses a dieter's weighing scale. This dieter's weighing scale is a talking electronic scale for encouraging the use of and adherence to a preset diet program. A user on the scale actuates a mechanism whose movement is transformed to electrical pulses to provide a digital readout of his present weight on a display. A microprocessor provides an electronic memory for storing a goal weight for the person and his weight each time he is weighed, along with the date of each stored weight as well as a series of comments to be voiced. The microprocessor also compares the goal weight with the present weight to actuate a voice synthesis device connected to the microprocessor to provide preselected comments appropriate to the comparison. An audio device connected to the voice synthesis device provides comments to be audibly spoken to the user. This weighing scale remembers the goal weight desired by the user and provides appropriate voice synthesized comments based on the measured weight of the user to encourage the user to stay on the diet program. This is a measuring scale, which is bulky and is not carried in the pocket of the user. It does not indicate to the user at all times the current weight, the goal weight and pounds lost from the time the user begins to track the progress of weight lost.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,508 to Smetaniuk discloses a calorie counter. This calorie counter is designed for persons wishing to control their weight. The calorie counter has a housing with a base and a transparent cover rotatably mounted to the base. An opaque partition is located in the housing parallel to the cover. This partition has three circular calorie counting scales. The partition consists of an inner disk having first and second calorie counting scales and an annular disk, which is an outward extension of the inner disk. The annular disk is rotatable and protrudes through a side wall of the base at one location. Two line indicators are provided by two transparent disks located between the cover and the annular partition. The first indicator points to the number of calories contained in a food item while the second indicator points to the total number of calories consumed by the user during a set time period. A gear mechanism operated by a thumb wheel operates both indicator disks at the same time. The user turns a wheel to record calories consumed in a meal. This also turns two indicators. When the user turns the first wheel again for the next meal, this calorie addition is recorded by the indicator. The calorie counter merely counts the number of calories consumed in each meal and the total number of calories consumed in a day. It does not keep track of the current weight of the user, the goal weight of the user or the pounds lost from the time the user begins to keep track of weight loss or gain.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,454 to Chan et al. discloses a data recorder. This information recording device contains a body having the form of a thin plate with at least one, and preferably three wheels. The portable recorder has a key chain and comprises an alpha wheel, numeric wheel and a color wheel adapted for recording a parking location, etc. This data recorder does not keep track of the user's current weight or weight goal. No method and means are disclosed therein for calculating the pounds lost from the time the user has decided to keep track of weight loss.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,774 to Goldman discloses a diet aid device and method. This diet aid device includes an apparatus to indicate a net calorie intake goal, remaining calories to reach the goal; and an indication to cause decrease in the intake of the remaining calories to reach the goal as calories are consumed. The diet aid device first sets the desired caloric goal per day and decrements remaining calories as calories are consumed. Exercise or expended calories correspondingly are input to increase the calories remaining. As the calorie goal is approached, the color change in the calories-remaining warns the user to go slowly with the further consumption of calories. This calorie counter does not keep track of the user's current weight, weight goal or pounds lost from the time the user decides to keep track of weight loss.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,691 to Abrams et al. discloses an apparatus to control diet and weight using human behavior modification techniques. The hand-held computer prepares and monitors a goal-oriented weight, nutrition and exercise control program. Visual and audio prompts tell users when to eat and exercise, and provide suggestions for what to eat. This system analyzes the user's behavioral patterns of eating and exercise and suggests modifications to the behavior. It provides positive and negative feedback to the user based on behavior inputs. This behavior monitoring and behavior modification system does not track the current weight or goal weight of a user. It also does not provide information to the user about the weight loss or weight gain from the time the user has decided to track weight loss/gain.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,617,530 to Lin discloses a scale with use reminder and weight change messages. The scale portion includes a display for registering the weight of the person standing thereon. The scale prompts the user to weigh himself at a pre-selected time in the form of a voice message alarm. The scale stores the previous day's weight and compares it with the present day weight, then displays the current weight and weight difference. If the user has lost weight, the voice message congratulates the user. Otherwise, the voice message provides encouraging remarks. First, the scale is a heavy weighing device and cannot be carried in the pocket of a user. The scale only compares weight on a day to day basis, but does not track weight change or pounds lost from the time the user decides to track weight change.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,635,015 to Sagel discloses a body weight management system. This system is managed by a provider that provides to the user recommendations of food and satiety compositions. The system monitors the food and satiety consumption by the use and records energy expended and generates additional recommendations. This system is not a portable device and does not track user's current weight, goal weight and pounds lost from the time user has decided to monitor weight loss.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2002/0074792 to Newell discloses a calendar kit and apparatus for behavior modification and a method for using the same. This calendar kit records manual data that relates to the user on individual sheets. Space is provided for collecting daily, weekly or monthly data to record the progress of the user. This is a recording system, not a portable device that records the user's current weight, weight goal and pounds lost or gained from the time the user decided to track weight gain/weight loss patterns.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2005/0004436 to Nissila et al. discloses a method and device for the weight management of humans. The device initially collects the user's initial weight and weight goal and recommends food intake and exercise routines based on sex, age, height, weight, etc. The system monitors user input of food intake and exercise routines, computes actual weight loss against expected weight loss and corrects further recommendations accordingly. The '436 patent application does not disclose a portable device carried by the user. Rather it is a stationary device comprising a complex set of instructions and recommendations.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2005/0058970 to Permian et al discloses a behavior modification aide. This behavior modification aide includes a user-modifiable BMI (body mass index) goal, weight goal, a display for displaying messages dependent upon the daily eating schedule and exercise schedule and the number of times the user-initiated habit-occurrence indicator is used. An overall visual indication is presented indicating the degree to which the user is maintaining the eating and exercise schedule. This device is watch-like with six buttons. Buttons 1 through 4 have conventional watch-like functionality while buttons 5 and 6 provide behavioral modification functionality. The watch-like device accepts food intake, exercise routines and provides an indication of how the user is striving to attain his weight goals. This device does not simultaneously display current weight, goal weight and pounds lost from the time the user decided to track weight change. It is a complicated device with multiple features providing an unfriendly user environment.
Notwithstanding the efforts of prior art workers to construct a weight loss monitoring device, there exists a need for an unobtrusive attractive portable device that monitors current weight against a previously set goal weight indicating cumulatively the progress of weight loss or gain.